


The Curse of the Stone

by Siren_Queen



Series: The Goddess's Cursed Gift [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter Has a Twin, Her name is Rayne, Hogwarts, Multi, Persephone - Freeform, Poseidon - Freeform, apollo - Freeform, draco is a reborn hades, harry potter ua(universe alteration), i dunno what else to put, rayne is a reborn goddess, rayne is so done with everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24274645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siren_Queen/pseuds/Siren_Queen
Summary: "What?  No! Raynbow, it's against the rules.""Rules were made to be broken, Harry.  Besides, since when have you cared about rules?""Since they woke me up while I was trying to sleep.""We both know you weren't sleeping, so don't be so grumpy, senior.  Now, what's the password?  I'll be up in five."⥺⭄⥺⭄Rayne Potter has grown up with bruised knuckles and bloody knees, her twin brother named Harry beside her.And she has always known the world had it out for the two of them. To their legal guardian, Rayne's aunt and uncle, she and Harry couldn't mean less.  Their faces are just a reoccurring headache.So when the letters to a magical world arrive, no one is ready.  Because the dark secrets this world hides are more dangerous than anyone could have imagined.
Series: The Goddess's Cursed Gift [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752316
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. The Coming of Persephone Potter

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers! Thank you for clicking on my fanfiction. I have to warn you, this is my first fanfiction or free-willed piece ever, so it will probably start out super cringy and stuff. Also, English is not my first language, so feel free to correct my grammar and leave constructive comments.
> 
> Also, I will be doing a mashup of the books and movies. The plot will mainly follow the books, but if there is a part in the movies I liked a lot, I'll add that in as well.
> 
> One more thing, Rayne is pronounced as Rain, like Reyna without the a. Thank you! Happy Reading!
> 
> Warning: mentions of child abuse
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> ⥺⭄⥺⭄
> 
> Disclaimer: All of the original characters and places belong to JK Rowling, as do most of the events. Rayne and some of the other secondary characters are of my own creation. Any similarities to any other fanfictions are entirely a coincidence. 
> 
> ^^I did that, now don't report me. I've had my stuff taken down to many times to count so please-

⥺⭄⥺⭄

" _kýma_ ," said the girl sitting on the rusty old swing set.

To any normal person, seeing her there would have been a shock. Not because she was sitting in a deserted playground at 6:30 in the morning. Not because the puddle of muddy water in front of her was moving, and there was no breeze. But rather, because of the glowing green eyes. After all, glowing eyes was something that only happened in the movies.

A small smile came to her face, but a frown quickly replaced it. She had never been one to settle with mediocre. She knew she could do much, much more, but she couldn't if she didn't focus. The rising sun made the metal structures glint brightly into her eyes, and the birds were chirping loudly.

Rayne Potter sat up straighter and glared at the puddle. She took a deep breath and willed the water to move again, this time without words.

Slowly, a stream of water rose from the puddle. It kept rising, until she seriously doubted there had been that much water in the puddle to begin with.

By now, the water was twirling around her, and she was grinning broadly, eyes glowing green. She kept working with the puddle for what she assumed to be about two hours, even managing to stir up a small hurricane. By then she was physically and mentally exhausted.

The sun warmed Rayne's bones as she collapsed onto the swing. She sat there and soaked in the sunshine, relishing every second of the midsummer sun beating down on her skin. She could have stayed there all day, with the suns rays beating down on her and the birds and breeze creating a softly sung song in the background. But she couldn't. In just a few minutes time, she would have to get up and make the short trek back to Number 4, Privet Drive if she wished to make it through the morning without taking a rolling pin to the head.

Rayne stood and made sure the limey glow had faded from her eyes and she straightened her appearance. A small pink flower was wrapping itself around her ankle, and she bent down and picked it for her brother, and put a different blue one that suddenly appeared into her hair. With a soft sigh and longing gaze at the father pushing his daughter on the swing while the mother swung beside her daughter, Rayne started to the Dursleys house.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Rayne had arrived a moment too late, seeing as Petunia Dursley was already banging on the door of the cupboard under the stairs. Rayne's blonde giraffe of an aunt opened her mouth to start yelling at the cupboard一telling Rayne that Aunt Petunia hadn't seen her yet一so she quickly cut her aunt off, "I'll wake him."

The horse-faced women merely sneered at her. "You should have been back ten minutes ago. Now hurry up! Finish preparing breakfast, and don't you even dare let any of it burn! Everything should be perfect for my little Duddy's birthday!"

Rayne watched her stalk away, and something in her chest ached. Even after ten years, she still wished Aunt Petunia wouldn't act so angry and bitter towards her. It she was even worst to Rayne than she was to Harry. But it didn't matter now. She wasn't so naive anymore.

Then her aunt words registered. Of course, it was her cousin's birthday一how could she have forgotten? Dudley一more commonly referred to as the blond hippo一had been making very unsubtle suggestions for the better part of a week about what he'd like to do, what he wanted for gifts, etc.,etc. . . . It was always that way. Every single year. And after ten years, she could say she was quite tired of it. Especially last year, she'd received an empty tissue box from the Dursley's. And the nine years before that, a broken pen.

The door of the cupboard under the stairs creaked a bit as Rayne opened it. The sleeping boy inside stirred slightly, not waking up. Rayne sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed some of the untamable black hair out of his eyes and softly said, "Harry? It's time to get up . . . come on, Harry."

Blearly emerald green eyes focused on her, "Rayndrop?" Rayne smiled softly. He rolled over before sighing, and Rayne tucked the flower behind his ear. She had also retrieved a pair of old socks from the floor. After she brushed a medium-sized spider off of them, she handed them to Harry, who had sat up and was now searching for his glasses. Rayne handed them to him and shut the door to let him change. The same spider from the sock was crawling over her shoe, so she set it free outside. When she was younger, the creepy crawlies had terrified her.

But she was used to them now. There were plenty of them crawling around in the cupboard, and that was where Rayne slept with Harry. Maybe the spiders didn't bother her anymore, but she was not a fan of big crowds.

The cupboard opened, and Rayne led Harry to the kitchen.

"What kind of flower if this?"

"It's a lily."

Harry didn't say anything, but she knew he was holding the lily in his hand and staring at it almost lovingly. After all, they had only found out that their late parents were named Lily and James Potter a few months ago.

It had taken nine years to get Aunt Petunia to spit it out.

"Raynbow?"

"Yeah?" She turned her head slightly.

"Thanks."

She smiled, though it quickly grew significantly smaller as they entered the kitchen. Rayne sighed a little bit sadly. The table was practically hidden beneath all of Dudley's presents. From what she could tell, Dudley had gotten a new computer, his second television, and a racing bike. Why he needed a racing bike was a mystery to Rayne, seeing as he had never exercised a day in his life. Unless of course, it involved beating someone up. That was Dudley's favorite sport, and his favorite punching bag happened to be her and Harry.

They were twins, though Harry was approximately forty-one days, eleven hours, and six minutes older than Rayne. They weren't identical, but that didn' matter. They both had the same unruly black hair and emerald green eyes. But whereas Harry was small for his age, Rayne was tiny and very much petite. Harry had glasses held together with scotch tape from all the times Dudley had broken them, while Rayne had perfect 20-20 vision. Harry had a thin scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt. Rayne had scars too; there was one on her right forearm, and another on her forehead that sort of looked like a simple wave, only Rayne's scar was closer to her hairline. The one on her forearm was a bit more interesting though, since it was black, as if it was branded there, while the one on her shoulder was just normal scar tissue.

Rayne didn't like to show people the scars, though. One time, an old lady had taken her hand to shake it, but when she saw the mark on her arm, the woman had recoiled with a gasp.

That, of course, led to Harry asking Aunt Petunia how they had gotten the scars. He had never took it lightly when someone insulted Rayne一he could get downright murderous. Rayne hated people who made fun of Harry as well, but while Harry's anger was hot and explosive, Raynes's was cold and calculating.

Aunt Petunia was often a source of Harry's hate rants, but Uncle Vernon and Dudley seemed to come up more often nowdays. But that night, their aunt had been the main source of his anger.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had snapped, making Harry scowl. "And don't ask questions."

Don't ask questions一that was the one golden rule to never break while living under the same roof as the Dursley's.

Rayne hated it. They were trying to suppress basic human functions, and it didn't settle well with the ravenette.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Rayne plated his toast.

"Comb your hair!" he barked in morning greeting. He had been referring to both siblings, of course一even though Rayne's black tresses had already been raked into a bun. She quickly moved to Harry and tried to pat his wild hair down, but it was useless. She moved away and he quickly undid the bun and pulled her hair back into a braid.

About once a week, Uncle Vernon would look up and shout that Rayne and Harry needed a haircut. Put together, the both of them must have had more haircuts than the rest of the school put together. Of course, it never made a difference. The hair always grew back the same way一Harry's wild and all over the place, and Rayne's in seemingly wind-swept black waves that rolled down her back, even though Aunt Petunia always had it cut into a pixie cut.

"Get that damned flower out of you hair, boy!"

Harry plucked the lily from his hair and put it in his back pocket.

Rayne was making tea and Harry was frying eggs by the time Aunt Petunia arrived with Dudley. Dudley greatly resembled his father. With a pink face, not much neck, small watery blue eyes and blond hair that lay flat on his head, Aunt Petunia said he looked like a baby angel一Harry and Rayne had many heated discussions about where he looked more like a pig in a wig or a hippo out of water.

As Rayne set the table, Dudley counted his presents. His sneer quickly dropped and his mouth fell open in shock.

"Thirty-six," he said. "That's two less than last year."

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present. See, it's here under this big one from mummy and daddy."

"Alright, thirty-seven then," Dudley said, turning the color of a tomato.

Rayne quickly scarfed down her breakfast and Harry quickly followed. She had a big appetite for such a small body, and she'd like to have her breakfast eaten in case Dudley flipped the table again.

Clearly Aunt Petunia could sense rising danger too, because she said, "How about we buy you another two presents while we're out today, hmm, popkins? Is that all right?"

Dudley thought for a moment. Rayne was sure any second they would have to rush him to the hospital to unstick his brain.

"So I'll have thirty . . . thirty . . ."

"Thirty-nine, sweetums." Aunt Petunia said soothingly.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily. Rayne was sure she could feel the whole house shake for a moment. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father! 'Atta boy, Dudley" He ruffled his hair. Now he looked like a hippo in a wig.

The telephone rang, and Aunt Petunia went away to answer it. Rayne watched Dudley unwrap a video camera, the racing bike, a VCR, and sixteen new video games. He was in the middle of ripping the paper off a golden wristwatch一which Rayne seriously doubted would fit on his fat wrist一when Aunt Petunia came back looking both worried and angry.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's has broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head violently in the direction of Rayne and Harry.

Dudley's smile quickly dropped and was replaced with a look of horror. Rayne perked up and Harry looked hopefully. Every year on Dudley's birthday, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia took him and a friend out for the day. Every year, they dumped Rayne and Harry with Mrs. Figg, the mad old lady who lived two streets over. Her house absolutely reeked of cabbage and she forced them to look at an album of all the cats she ever owned.

"Now what?" Aunt Petunia said furiously, glaring at them as though she thought they had planned the entire thing. Harry gave Rayne a look that said she outta feel sorry for Mrs. Figg, before she reminded him under her breath it would be a whole year till they had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Tufty, and Mr. Paws.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them."

The Dursley's often spoke of them like this. As if Rayne and Harry weren't present一or rather, like they were a very nasty thing that couldn't understand them, like blobfish (though Rayne thought they were kind of cute.) Or a Dudley.

"What about your friend, what's-her-name一Yvonne?" At this point, Uncle Vernon looked desperate.

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"You could just leave us here," Harry put in hopefully. Rayne knew what he was thinking一if the Dursleys left them at the house, they would be able to watch whatever they wanted to on the television, and maybe even take a spin with some of Dudley's stuff.

Aunt Petunia looked as if someone had shoved a lemon down her throat.

"And come back to the house in flames?" she snarled.

Rayne made an indignant noise. "It's not like we'd blow up the house," she drawled, but of course, they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take them to the zoo . . ." Aunt Petunia said slowly, as though the words were getting stuck in her throat. ". . . and leave them in the car . . ."

"The car's new, they're not staying in there . . ." Rayne snorted softly. What were she and Harry going to do? Ruin the upholstery?

Dudley started to wail loudly. He wasn't really crying一it had been years since he really cried, and if she remembered correctly, it was because she'd used a tree branch to break his nose after he beat Harry up behind the school一but he knew if he really screwed up his face and screamed loud enough, his parents would give him anything he wanted. Such a pompous git, Rayne thought, even though there had been a time long ago when she would have been over the moon to have her cousin want to play a game with her.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mommy won't let them spoil your special day!" his mother cried, flinging her arms around his fat neck.

"I . . . don't . . . want . . . them . . . t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between well-acted sobs. "They r-ruin everything!" He gave Harry and Rayne a nasty grin through his mothers' arms

Rayne sent Harry a hopeful glance. Maybe, for the first time, they would get to go out with the Dursley's on something other than a trip to the barbers.

Then, the doorbell rang. "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" Aunt Petunia said frantically, and a moment later, Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend, entered with his mother. Polkiss was generally the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley punched them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry immediately.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Half an hour later, Harry was practically bouncing in the backseat of the Dursley's car. Rayne couldn't believe their luck. Sure, she was buckled into the same seat as Harry and Polkiss kept eyeing her creepily, but she was out of the house and she wasn't going to school and she couldn't remember the last time the Dursely's had taken her and Harry out and this would be the first time in their lives that they were going to the zoo.

Okay, so maybe she was a little more excited than she had originally thought.

Her aunt and uncle couldn't think of anything else to do with them. But before they left, Uncle Vernon had taken them aside rather roughly.

"I'm warning you," he growled, putting his large purple face right up into Rayne and Harry's. "I'm warning you now, the both of you一any funny business, anything at all一and the two of you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"We're not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly . . ."

Rayne wisely decided to keep her mouth shut.

But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever believed them.

The reason was strange, things always seemed to happen around Rayne and her brother. Like one time, Aunt Petunia had sheared Harry's hair so short it was practically none existent, and it had grown back exactly the same by the next morning一they had gotten a week in the cupboard for that. Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force Rayne into one of Dudley's old sweaters. The thing kept shrinking the harder aunt Petunia tried to force it over her head, but to no avail. She finally gave up when the sweater was small enough to fit a baby. Rayne and Harry hadn't gotten any punishment for that, since Aunt Petunia assumed it must have shrunk in the wash.

That all went sour when the Dursley's received an angry call from Rayne's headmistress claiming she and Harry had been climbing school buildings. On the contrary, they had been running from Dudley's gang. As they had gone to jump over the bushes, the wind must have caught them, because next thing she knew, Rayne was sitting on the top of the bell tower and Harry was sitting on the roof of the school kitchens.

But she and Harry had promised each other nothing would go wrong today. They were going to have the time of their lives, even if they had to put up with Dudley and Polkiss, because they were going somewhere other than their cupboard, school, or Mrs. Figgs cabbage-scented living room.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain to her about a number of things: people at work, the twins, the bank, the twins, the council, and the twins were only a few of his favorite subjects. This lovely morning, it was motorcycles.

". . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said as a motorcycle passed them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry suddenly. "It was flying."

Uncle Vernon nearly drove into the car in front of them. He spun around in his seat and shouted at Harry, " MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Polkiss snickered loudly.

"I know they didn't," said Harry. "It was just a dream." Rayne took his hand and gripped it tightly.

She desperately wished he hadn't said anything. The only thing the Dursleys hated more than their asking questions, it was their talking about things behaving in a way they shouldn't. It didn't matter if it was in a dream or even in a movie一it was as though they thought she and Harry might get dangerous ideas.

It was a nice Saturday afternoon and the zoo was full to the brim with other families. Of course, the Dursley's bought Dudley and Polkiss large chocolate ice creams at the front entrance and then, when the smiling lady in the van asked Rayne and Harry what they wanted before Uncle Vernon could usher them away, he bought them cheap lemon pops. It wasn't to bad, either, Rayne thought as they watched a gorilla scratch it's head. It looked remarkably like Dudley, only it wasn't blonde and Dudley was nowhere near that muscular.

Rayne had the better morning she'd had in a long time. Harry made sure they walked a little behind the rest of their group. Dudley and Polkiss seemed to be getting bored, and she would like to keep their trip to the zoo relatively drama-free. They ate lunch in the zoo, and Rayne and Harry got to eat the rest of Dudley's Knickerbocker glory after he had a tantrum and Aunt Petunia bought him another one.

Rayne figured, afterward, she should have known her good luck wouldn't hold.

After lunch, they visited the reptile house. Dudley and Polkiss wanted to look at huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley was quick to find the biggest snake in the house. It was big enough to crush two of Uncle Vernon's cars into a tin can一except it was asleep.

Dudley had his nose pressed against the glass as he stared at the glittering brown beast.

"Make it move," he whined to his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake remained asleep.

"Do it again." The snake snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned as he shuffled away.

Rayne briefly wondered what the odds would be of a venomous snake getting free and killing the Dursleys. She quickly dismissed the thought.

She and Harry would be forced into an orphanage, and from all the stories she'd read with orphaned protagonists, Rayne had deducted that orphanages were pretty terrible.

She and Harry looked at the snake. "You know," Harry said, as he slung an arm around her shoulder. "I wouldn't be surprised if it died of boredom. No brilliant sister to keep it company as people bang their fists on the glass." Rayne smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. Harry was the only reason she stayed with the Dursleys. Had he not been there, she would have run years ago.

When Rayne looked back at the snake, it stared back at her with beady eyes. "Harry," she whispered, "look."

Harry stared. Then suddenly, it slowly raised its head till it was level with theirs.

And it winked.

Rayne stared. Harry quickly checked to make sure no one was watching them, before winking back at it.

Then something even stranger happened. It glanced at Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then at the ceiling. The look in its eyes very clearly said: I get that all the time.

"I know," Harry said softly, "it must be really annoying."

The snake nodded.

"Where are you from?"

The snake jabbed its tail at a sign by the glass.

"Boa Constrictor, Brazil," Rayne read out loud.

"Was it nice there?" Harry asked.

The snake pointed at the sign again: bred in the zoo.

"Oh, I see一so you've never been to Brazil?"

The snake shook its head. Just as it did, a voice shouted, "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley waddled over as fast as his stubby legs would carry him.

"Out of the way, you," he snapped at Harry, punching him in the ribs. Harry fell, taking Rayne with him, and they landed hard on the concrete floor. Rayne held her ribs and quickly check Harry. He was a little scratched up, but otherwise unharmed. She turned and glared at the offenders.

What happened next was even more bizarre. Harry gasped as the glass in front of the Boa Constrictors cage vanished. Dudley and Polkiss howled with horror and jumped back the massive serpent unraveled itself and slithered out onto the floor.

Rayne scrambled back, dragging Harry with her.

As the snake slithered past, Rayne heard a low voice say, "Brazil, here I come . . . Thanksss, amigosss."

The keeper of the reptile house was in shock, to say the least. "But the glass," he kept repeating, "where did the glass go?"

The director of the zoo himself made Aunt Petunia a strong cup of tea while he apologized profusely. Uncle Vernon was furious, even going as far as threatening to sue the zoo. But Rayne knew he wouldn't. She knew he knew what had happened. And she knew that things were just going to get worse.

Rayne was sure that the snake hadn't done any real harm, it had only snapped playfully at people's ankles, but by the time they were at the car, Dudley and Polkiss were telling stories about how the constrictor had nearly killed them, which was nearly unbearable. The worse thing was, when Polkiss finally calmed down a bit, he said, "The twins were talking to it, weren't you guys?"

At least Uncle Vernon waited till Polkiss had left before he advanced on Rayne and Harry. He was so mad he could barely talk, but he managed to say, "Go一cupboard一stay一no meals," before he short-circuited. Aunt Petunia ran to get him the largest bottle of brandy in the house.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Much later, Rayne wished one of them had a watch. She didn't know what time it was, and she was starving. Until the Dursleys were asleep, she couldn't sneak out to the kitchen for some food for her and Harry.

She had no one except for Harry. Other than the Dursleys, he was her only living blood relative一though she didn't consider them family. In her eyes, he was priceless. She would set the world on fire and watch it burn before she ever let anything happen to Harry. She would sell her soul to the Hades and burn in the depths of Tartarus a million times over before seeing him hurt. He was her everything, and to the world she was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⥺⭄⥺⭄  
> Hello! I see you made it to the end of the first chapter. I hope it wasn't horrible. . . but if it was, comment and tell me how you think I should fix it! And if you liked it, stay tuned I guess. Chapter 2 will be out sometimes this week!
> 
> Also, I sometimes go back and add and edit things I don't like. I know it's not a very good habit, but I'm indecisive as heck.
> 
> -Adara


	2. Between a Letter and a Hard Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little later than I would have hoped but I hope you guys enjoy!

Harry's POV:

The Boa Constrictor incident earned Harry and Rayne their longest punishment yet. When they were finally let out of their cupboard, summer break had already begun, and Dudley had managed to break his video camera, crash his airplane, and nearly broke old Mrs. Figg's leg again when he crashed into her on his racing bike.

Harry was glad school was over, but that didn't mean he and Rayne had shaken offl Dudley and his gang. Every member of the gang was big and stupid. There were Piers, Malcolm, Gordon, and Dennis, but Dudley was by far the largest and stupidest of them all, being the ringleader. They happily played Dudley's favorite sport: Potter Hunting, and they visited the Dursleys house nearly every single day.

That was why Harry and Rayne spent as much time away from the house as humanly possible. They went to the park, walked around the block, Rayne went to the library and read, Harry followed her and played on the public computers; anything to pass the time. However, there was a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. In September, Harry and Rayne would be off to secondary school. Dudley had been accepted to Smeltings, Uncle Vernon's old private school. Piers Polkiss would be attending there as well. Harry and Rayne would be going to Stonewall High, the local public school.

Dudley found it particularly amusing. "They stick people's heads down the toilet on your first day at Stonewall," he told them. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"No," Harry said, "I don't think the toilet has ever had anything as foul as your head in it. The poor thing might be sick." Rayne snickered and pulled him away before Dudley could work out what he had said.

On an early July day, Aunt Petunia and Dudley went to London to buy his Smeltings uniform. They left Harry and Rayne to Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg was better than usual. Turned out, she'd tripped over one of her own cats and broken her leg, so she wasn't quite as doting as usual. She let them watch television and even gave them some chocolate cake一though it tasted as though she'd had it for a million years.

Later than evening, Dudley swaggered around the living room, dressed in his new uniform, which consisted of a maroon tailcoat, orange knickerbockers, a flat straw hat called a boater, and a polished stick. The sticker was used to hit other students. It was supposed to 'train them for later life.'

Uncle Vernon gruffly said, "This is the proudest moment of my whole life." Aunt Petunia sobbed about how grown up her Ickle Dudleykins looked. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He was sure he'd already cracked his ribs from suppressing so much laughter.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

The next morning, a horrible smell wafted around the kitchen. It was coming from a large metal tub in the sink. It was full of old dirty gray rags floating around in equally grey water.

"What's that smell?" Rayne asked Aunt Petunia as she walked in, stretching her arms over her head. She was wearing one of Aunt Petunia's old green shirts and a ragged pair of Dudley's old shorts.

There had been a time when this made Harry angry enough to talk back to Uncle Vernon. It had earned him a particularly nasty beating. Rayne had told him that she was fine with wearing a boys' old clothes, and made him swear never to argue with the Dursleys over her again.

Rayne was very pretty for ten years old, so the old baggy clothes did have one upside; they made Harry's mission a little bit easier. With large emerald green eyes, a small, slender, lean and very underfed build, rosy cheeks, full pink bow-shaped lips, a small nose, long, thick wind-swept raven black hair, and tanned skin, he would only later realize his sister was the spitting image of their mother. And her face didn't go unnoticed, since nearly all the boys in the school had been caught staring at her at least once. Beating them with sticks if they looked at Rayne for more than the five acceptable seconds while she wasn't paying attention was harder than it sounded. Of course, then he also had to take care of what was left of the kids who bullied her to get on the better side of Dudley's gang. He said remains because, in Rayne's wise words "the first time, you politely tell them to stop. The second time, you warn them to back off, the third time, you knock their teeth so far down their throat they will choke on them and die.."

So to speak, Harry knew his little lady could take care of her own problems, but he took the role of older brother very seriously.

Harry wrinkled his nose when tub puffed out another batch of stench.

"Your new school uniforms." Aunt Petunia snapped. Her lips tightened into a thin line like they always did when either of them asked questions.

Rayne peeked into the bowl.

"I didn't realize it had to be so . . . wet," Harry said.

"Don't be stupid," Aunt Petunia snapped. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for the two of you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I finished."

"I doubt that," Rayne grumbled under her breath. But even she knew it was best not to argue. Harry just tried not to think about how they'd look on their first day.

Uncle Vernon and Dudley walked in, both with screwed up faces from the smell. Uncle Vernon sat down heavily with his newspaper and Dudley whacked the table with his Smeltings Stick.

Then they all heard the click of the mail slot being opened and the flop of the mail on the doormat.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon around his newspaper.

"Get the mail, Rayne."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Hit her with your Smelting stick, Dudley."

Rayne dodged the stick and went to get the mail, muttering angrily under her breath as she did.

She was taking longer than usual. Uncle Vernon seemed to notice this too, because he yelled, "Hurry up, girl! What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?"

Rayne came back in, staring at an envelope on top. She handed Uncle Vernon two of the four envelopes, then gave Harry one. He stared at it. It was a letter to him! He didn't know who'd write to him, since he didn't have any friends. But it couldn't be a mistake. It had his name on it:

Mr. H. Potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surry

Rayne had one too. Harry didn't get a second longer to think about it, because Rayne ripped into hers. Harry caught a glimpse of who it was addressed to before she flipped it over.

Ms. P. Potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surry

Harry could hear Uncle Vernon saying something, but he paid no heed as he started at the coat of arms on the sheet of parchment inside. A roaring lion, a soaring eagle, a badger poised to strike, and a hissing snake, all surrounding a large letter H.

Harry didn't hear anything about what was going on around him. He was trying to decode the motto under the coat of arms: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

Never tickle a sleeping dragon, a soft voice whispered in his mind. It sounded very much like一

Uncle Vernon ripped the heavy parchment roughly out of his hands. Beside his, Rayne made an irritated noise as the letter was snatched from her hands as well.

"Those are ours!" Harry said as he tried to snatch them back.

"Who'd be writing to the two of you," Uncle Vernon sneered as he roughly opened the parchment. Harry watched as his face went from red to green to a nasty whitish-gray faster than one of Rayne's mood swings.

"P-P-P-Petunia," Uncle Vernon gasped in horror.

Dudley tried to grab one of the letters to read them, but Uncle Vernon quickly moved it out of his reach. Aunt Petunia grabbed one curiously and read it. Her face did something similar to Uncle Vernon's and she looked as if she might faint.

"Vernon一oh my goodness, Vernon!"

They both stared at each other. They seemed to forget that Harry, Rayne, and Dudley were still in the room, and the thicker boy was not taking it well.

"I want to read those letters," he said loudly as he whacked his father sharply with the Smeltings stick. Uncle Vernon ignored him.

"I want to read them," Harry said heatedly, "seeing as they're ours."

Get out, both of you," Uncle Vernon said hoarsely as he peered at the second letter.

Rayne didn't move.

"I want those letters!" she said quietly. She hadn't even been speaking that loudly, but it scared Harry even more than when she did raise her voice.

Green eyes locked with watery blue ones, and for a second Harry swore the color of Rayne's eyes changed一going from a emerald to brilliant glowing green.

Uncle Vernon seemed to realize he was losing a staring contest with a ten-year-old girl because he shouted, "OUT!" loudly and took Harry, Rayne, and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them all out into the hall.

This led to a silent but deadly match of who got to listen at the keyhole. Harry, with his glass dangling off an ear, laid down on the floor to listen under the door. Rayne was beside him a second later, though she looked livid一and terrible, with the new bruises from the Smeltings stick rapidly turning purple. Dudley hadn't gotten away unscathed either. He had a very red mark on his already red face where Rayne must have gotten him good with her elbow.

Harry could hear Aunt Petunia saying something, but he couldn't make out the words.

"Vernon, look at the address一how could they know where they sleep? Do you think they're watching the house?"

Again, Harry heard the voice in his head. It wasn't Aunt Petunia's voice though. The voice was definitely a girls一light and beautiful, like what Harry imagined a siren's voice to be like.

"Watching一and spying一they must be following us!" Uncle Vernon.

"What should we do, Vernon? Write back and tell them we have already made arrangements? Tell them we don't want一"

"No. No, we'll ignore it. Yes, yes, that will be the best . . . If they don't get an answer, they won't ask again."

"But一"

"I'm not having any in the house, Petunia! It would be an outrage, and we swore we would stamp it all out of them when we brought them in!"

Harry could hear Uncle Vernon sit down heavily. Rayne scoffed and got up before pulling Harry up and stalking to the cupboard. He knew she would still furious, even if she had the stupid nonchalant expression plastered on her.

Once locked away in the cupboard, he pulled her into a hug. They laid down, Harry stroking her hair till Rayne fell asleep. He held her for a little while longer, until he too feel asleep.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Rayne's POV

Later that evening after he arrived from work, Uncle Vernon did something that was pretty much taboo in the Dursleys home: he visited the cupboard.

"What a nice little setup you have here," he said after he'd squeezed through the door.

"Where are our letters?" Rayne asked, sounding nearly bored.

"Who's writing to us?" Harry asked.

"Oh, that was no one. Made a mistake with the address. I took the liberty to burn them." Uncle Vernon said, trying to sound like he could tolerate being within a five feet radius of them. Spoiler alert: it didn't work.

"All very coincidental mistakes," Rayne said evenly. "I'm sure they must've thought to address the letters to this same cupboard by mistake" She tried for a smile, but it ended up more like a scowl. "It was一"

"ENOUGH!" Uncle Vernon yelled. A couple of spiders fell off the ceiling. Rayne flicked one off of Harry's shoulder as Uncle Vernon took deep breaths, trying to calm his temper. He smiled, and it looked even more painful than Rayne's had.

"Anyway, about your . . . sleeping arrangements . . . er一Petunia and I have decided you're both much too big for this cupboard now. We have decided it will be good for you to move upstairs to Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?" Harry asked sourly.

"Enough questions," Uncle Vernon snapped. "Get your things upstairs, now!"

It only took one trip to take all of her belongings upstairs. Rayne knew that was probably a depressing thought to most people, but it didn't bother her much. After all, if she hadn't ever known a better life, how could she miss one? The only better life she'd known died with her parents, and the small glimpses of normality she could get were torn away every time she shut the cover of a book.

There were four bedrooms in the house. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's (the largest one), the Guest Room (usually for Uncle Vernon's sister), Dudley's room, and Dudley's spare room (the smallest.)

To be honest, the spare room wasn't that much of an upgrade from the cupboard. It was trashed with all of Dudley's old, broken things. The only interesting thing she noticed straight away was old air rifle she was slightly tempted to try out unnamed people, but it was bent from where Dudley had sat on it, and therefore useless to her cause.

Then she noticed the best thing the room had to offer: books stacked neatly on shelves in the far corner of the room. They all looked shiny and new, and Rayne practically leaped over Harry to get to them. She trailed her fingertips over them as she read the titles: The Hunger Games, The Goddess War, The Maze Runner, Anna Dressed in Blood, Three Dark Crowns, A Throne of Glass, Ingo, Divergent, and others she had never heard of. And then she saw them: Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

"Harry!" Rayne shrieked. "They're here! Oh gods, I'm going to read every last one again! Can you bring me dinner up here?"

Harry peeked out the door. "Only if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon can convince Dudley to let us stay."

Rayne sighed, choosing to pointedly ignore him as he flopped onto the bed and sighed in a very depressing manner. She was going to read all these books, no matter what the recommended age was, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her.

With a rueful smile, Rayne grabbed the first Percy Jackson book. She had read them before, at the library, when she must have been about six years old. Then some stupid kid had stolen the books, and her bloody life had been ruined.

Rayne found that she could relate to the demigod in multiple ways. He was troubled, she was a freak. Percy Jackson had been her first crush too, which Harry mercilessly teased her about. Most girls had crushes on real boys, and Rayne had crushes on book boys. And she liked it that way.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Breakfast was unusually quiet for the Dursley household the next morning. Dudley just kept looking at his parents with complete shock. He'd done everything he could to try and get his room back, but to no avail. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia ignored him and kept shooting each other dark glances.

Rayne didn't pay much attention to it. She started on the books upstairs last night, and it had nearly driven all thought of the mysterious letters from her mind. She tried convincing Harry to read with her, but he'd just given her this half repulsed, half horrified look and quickly launched into a speech about how the only thing he wanted to read was the contents of that letter. She'd stopped listening after, "and who knows what it was about, because I certainly don't!"

She was brutally ripped from her wandering thoughts when Dudley yelled, "There are more! 'Ms. P. Potter, The Bedroom on the Right, 4 Privet Drive一'"

Rayne was out of her chair quicker than lightning. Uncle Vernon followed with a strangled cry, and she heard Harry right behind him. She was almost there when Uncle Vernon grabbed her roughly and yanked her back. He wrestled Dudley for the letter, but Harry had wrapped his arms around his neck while Rayne threw herself into the fray. There was a minute of confuddled fighting, then Uncle Vernon stood with a triumphant expression, Rayne and Harry's letters wrinkled in his hand.

"Go to your room!" he gasped. "All of you!"

Once upstairs, Rayne was tempted to go back downstairs and kick Uncle Vernon in the shin just so Harry would stop pacing. It was distracting her from angry reading time.

"Harry," she growled, "if you don't stop pacing I'm going to put your head through the wall!" They both knew it was an empty threat.

He stopped and grinned at her. "I have a plan to get those letters."

Rayne groaned. This master plan of his wasn't going to go well. She could just feel it.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

She was woken the next morning by a pained scream. She ran downstairs after she realized Harry wasn't in bed, or anywhere in the room for that matter. Had something happened? Was there someone in the house? Was Harry hurt? She muttered curses under her breath that would have had Aunt Petunia washing out her mouth with soap till the day she died.

She arrived downstairs with one of Dudley's old baseball bats clutched in her hands just in time to see Uncle Vernon ripping a letter into tiny pieces. There were five more in his lap.

Uncle Vernon stayed home from work that day. Instead of doing his work work, he nailed the mail slot closed.

"See," he was explaining to Aunt Petunia, "if they can't deliver them, they'll give up and leave us alone."

"I'm not quite sure that's how it works, Vernon."

"Petunia dear, these people's minds aren't like ours. They do strange things and think even stranger things."

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Twenty four letters arrived for Rayne and Harry on Friday. They had been shoved under the door, slid through the sides, and a few even found their way into the downstairs bedroom.

Uncle Vernon didn't go to work again. After he burned the letters and as Harry gave her a very angry lecture about why they needed to see who was writing them, Uncle Vernon nailed the door shut so no one or nothing could get in or out.

Rayne was pretty sure the whole thing was just a big hoax, but she didn't mention that to anyone. Besides, all the time inside the house gave her much needed hours to catch up on reading.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

By Saturday, the situation was getting completely ridiculous, even for Rayne, and she had been mostly enjoying it. Forty-eight letters found their way into the heavily fortified house, delivered by a very confused milkman through the bathroom window. Uncle Vernon called up the Dairy Station, Post Office, and everyone in the neighborhood to make furious complaints. Aunt Petunia pulsed the letters in her food processor while muttering fearfully to herself. Dudley watched in amazement and slight horror. "Anyone who wants to talk to the two of you this badly must be completely mad."

⥺⭄⥺⭄

The next morning Uncle Vernon giddily reminded everyone that post did not, in fact, come on Sundays. He had looked rather tired and sort of ill, much to Rayne's dealight. Her morbid sense of joy evaporated when she noticed how happy he looked. She would have very much liked to shove his face into the pan of bacon on the stove and let him sizzle, but she restrained herself. Rayne didn't know why, but she was feeling particularly violent this morning. Probably because Harry had kept tossing and turning all night, so she couldn't sleep. She didn't feel very tired, but rather as if she were a bomb about to explode.

Uncle Vernon was going on about how there would be 'no damn letters today!' when something came shooting out of the chimney and got him good in the back of the head, effectively shutting him up. A strange sound came from the ceiling, and like a herd of storming rhinos, sixtyish letters came flying out of the chimney.

The Dursleys screamed and covered their heads, because of course, high velocity letters could be injurious to one's health, sometimes leading to death. Harry leapt into the air to catch one as he laughed like a madman, dropping his glass of spoiled juice. Rayne, meanwhile, dove for the brownies sitting on a cake pedestal in the middle of the table.

"Out! Get OUT!" Uncle Vernon grabbed Rayne by the waist and pulled her off the table and into the hall, slamming the door behind them.

"That is it," Uncle Vernon looked like he was trying to stay calm, but was failing miserably, considering he was pulling great big tufts of hair off his mustache out as he spoke. "You are all to be back here fully packed in five minutes time. Be ready to leave. We're going away! Do not argue!"

He looked like a mental asylum escapee with half of his mustache missing, so no dared to argue. Five minutes later they were all back in the hall, and after another five minutes of Uncle Vernon ripping apart the door he boarded up, they were speeding down the highway. Sitting beside Rayne, Dudley sniffled. Uncle Vernon had hit him round the head for trying to bring his TV and VCR along.

They drove. And drove. And drove some more. Rayne's legs had gone numb about two hours ago. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare try to talk to Uncle Vernon while he was in this state. Uncle Vernon would go straight for a while, then take a sharp turn and go in that direction for a while. "Just shake 'em off . . . yes, this will do it," he muttered as he did this.

They drove all day, not stopping once to eat or drink. Dudley was positively howling by the time they pulled over at a shady looking hotel on the outskirts of some big city. Rayne's sense of direction had long since been messed up. Rayne, Harry and Dudley had to share a room with two twin beds and a very musty smelling carpet. As Dudley snored away, she sat with Harry on the windowsill, her cheek pressed against the glass as she stared down the light from passing cars.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

They were in the middle of a terrible breakfast of stale cornflakes and canned tomatoes on toast when the hotel owner came to their table.

"'Scuse me, is of you Mr. H. Potter or Ms. P. Potter? I only got 'bout an 'undred of these damn things at the front desk."

She held up a letter so they all could read the address in green ink:

Mr. H. Potter  
Room 17  
Railview Hotel  
Cokeworth

So we are in Cokeworth, Rayne though as she reached out to snatch the letter. Uncle Vernon knocked her hand away and stood up quickly. "I'll take them all."

⥺⭄⥺⭄

"It is a better option to just . . . go home, dearest?" Aunt Petunia asked as Uncle Vernon stood outside the car and looked around. They were in the midst of a large forest. He seemed to have ignored her thought, because he got back in the car and did the same thing in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and on top of a multi level parking garage.

"It's finally happened," Dudley said dully. "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Nobody responded.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Uncle Vernon was nowhere in sight. He had parked on the coast and locked them all inside as he disappeared around a curve.

Rayne must have fallen asleep, because when Harry woke her, it was raining and Uncle Vernon was back. He was holding a long, skinny package, and when he beckoned them out of the car, the twistedness of his smile made her anxious.

Harry shivered. "It's freezing out here," he muttered under his breath.

Rayne shrugged and draped her ragged windbreaker of his shoulders. She'd never been able to feel heat or cold much. To some degree, yes, but never to the extent of average people.

"Found the perfect place to stay!" Uncle Vernon said. "Let's go! Everyone out!"

He pointed excitedly at what appeared to be a big pebble in the middle of the ocean, with an ant standing on top.

"And it gets better!" Uncle Vernon squealed. "We have a storm forecast for tonight! And this lovely chap has agreed to let us borrow his boat!"

A toothless old man hobbled around the corner, smiled wickedly, and pointed at a boat bobbing cheerfully in the blue-grey water below. Good gods, he's trying to kill us.

It seemed like they rowed for hours to get to the miserable little shack on what turned out to be a boulder, not a pebble.

The inside was even more depressing than the outside. It felt more like a rotting fish carcass than a shack, and it stunk like dead seaweed. Uncle Vernon tried to start a fire in the damp fireplace, but the remains of his rations一a bag of chips and a banana一just smoked and shriveled uselessly. Rayne wished they would at least do a little dance or something instead of just sitting there.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

By the time everyone was asleep, the storm was howling, nearly drowning out Dudley's inhuman snores. He was crashed on the couch, while Rayne laid on the floor next to Harry, trying to give him as much warmth as possible. He had told her while they ate what day it was. Monday. That meant tomorrow was Harry's birthday. And in a month and a halfish, she would turn eleven too.

Rayne drew a cake on the sandy floor while Harry watched Dudley's wrist watch with hawk-like eyes.

When she was done, with a minute thirty to go, Rayne became acutely aware of the noises from the storm. A weird crunching noise came from outisde, and Rayne prayed that the stupid pebble wasn't crumbling into the sea. So far she could only bend the water, not calm it! If the rock was falling一

BOOM.

The whole shack jumped and Rayne shot to her feet. Her blood ran cold.

There was someone outside, knocking on the door. And they clearly wanted in.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

Okay, so about the Rayne's name, I did some research beforehand. I didn't want to pick some random one of a kind name, because lets face it, Harry is a very common name. So I found a page with the top 100 British girl names, and Rayne was on there. But I'm not English, so I'm not sure if that's true, because the Internet does lie. 

Also, how was it? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote! I hope your enjoying!

Also, stay home and stay safe!

-Adara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so about the Rayne's name, I did some research beforehand. I didn't want to pick some random one of a kind name, because lets face it, Harry is a very common name. So I found a page with the top 100 British girl names, and Rayne was on there. But I'm not English, so I'm not sure if that's true, because the Internet does lie. 
> 
> Also, how was it? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote! I hope your enjoying!
> 
> Also, stay home and stay safe!
> 
> -Adara


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets Unveiled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thanks for sticking around long enough to make it to chapter three!! 
> 
> The thingy above is the mark on Rayne's forearm. Comment and tell me if you think you know what it means!
> 
> Happy reading!

⥺⭄⥺⭄

BOOM! The door shook as the person knocked again.

Dudley snapped awake. "Where's the bulldozer?"

There was a bang from behind them and Uncle Vernon came flying into the room, a rifle in his hands一Rayne didn't even bother to try and figure out where it had came from一she was more worried about the crazed look in his eyes.

"Who's out there?" he yelled. "I'm warning you一I'm fully armed!"

Rayne didn't think one shotgun counted as 'fully armed', but she decided that now was probably not the time to share that.

She looked back at the door and started to say, "I think they're一"

CRASH!

The door swung clean off its hinge and landed on the floor with a deafening bang.

There was a huge giant man standing in the doorway. A wild mane of black hair covered his face and a bushy beard covered his chin. Rayne searched and found a pair of warm black eyes under all that hair.

The giant squeezed through the door and into the hut, crouching so he didn't break through the ceiling. He picked up the door and set it back in the frame as if it were as easy as buttering a slice of toast. Then he turned to the rest of them.

"Wouldn't mind makin' us a cup 'o tea, would yeh? It's been a hard journey . . ."

The man moved to the sofa, where Dudley happened to be frozen in fear.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the intruder.

Dudley shrieked and scampered一the fastest Rayne had ever seen him move一behind his mother, who was crouching behind Uncle Vernon.

"An' ther' they are!" the giant said. "Las' time I saw the two to you, you was only babies." Underneath all the wild black hair, the glinting eyes were crinkled with a smile. "Yeh looks like yer dad, Harry, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes. 'Nd Rayne, yeh look like yer mum, but with yer dad's Potter hair."

Uncle Vernon made a strange sound, like he was choking, so Rayne ignored him.

"I-I demand you leave at once!" he said. "You are breaking and entering on private property!"

"Shut up Dursley, yeh great raisin." The giant reached out and grabbed Uncle Vernon's gun, bending it into a pretzel shape, as if it were made of playdough and not steel.

Uncle Vernon made another funny sound, as if he were a mouse being trodden on. "Anyway一Harry, a very very happy birthday to yeh. I got summat for yeh一'nd Rayne could use a bite in her, to一I mighta squshed it a bit on the journey here, but I'm sure it'll taste all right."

A large, slightly deformed box emerged from one of the inside pockets of the giants' huge coat. The sticky chocolate cake inside had Happy Birthday Harry written in the middle.

Rayne looked up at the giant's face. He looked pleased with himself, and Rayne was going to say thank you even though it wasn't her cake, when Harry said, "Who are you?"

Rayne threw a bony elbow into his ribs. It was rude to be so impudent when someone had just given you your first birthday cake ever. And equally as dangerous. But instead of raising his hand, the man just laughed.

"Right, I haven't introduced meself yet. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

He shook Rayne's entire arm in a huge handshake.

"Now hat about that tea? It'll be good fer you two twigs. Put some heat in yer bones." Rayne didn't know where to be offended or deeply grateful. She decided grateful was probably the better route to go.

The man一Hagrid一was bent in front of the fireplace. When he moved away to his coat, there was a roaring fire in the previously damp hearth. The sudden warmth of the flames chased away most of the chill from her bones.

Hagrid sat on the couch, which creaked and groaned under his sheer size. He started to take things out of his pockets: a squishy pack of sausages, a copper kettle, a poker, a teapot, and several mugs. Everyone watched in silence as Hagrid worked, and in no time at all the hut was filled with the smell of sausage. But when he set the first batch of sizzling sausages in front of Rayne and Harry, Dudley shifted slightly. "Don't even touch anything he gives, you, Dudley," Uncle Vernon said sharply.

Hagrid laughed darkly.

"These aren' for yer great puddin' of a son, Dursley. Trust me, yer boy don't need no more fattenin'."

He gestured to the sausages, and Rayne hesitantly reached out. Under normal circumstances, she would have been a bit more cautious, but she was starving. And she didn't regret it either, because at that moment, they were absolutely the best thing she'd ever eaten.

After a long stretch of awkward silence, Harry broke the tension. "I'm sorry, but I still don't really understand who you are?"

Hagrid took a swig of tea and smiled again. "Just call me Hagrid," he said. "''S what everyone calls me. An' like I said, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts一an' the two o' yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"Er一no," Harry said slowly.

"Sorry," Rayne muttered quietly.

"Sorry?' Hagrid looked shocked. He turned and gave the Dursley's a murderous glare. "It's not you that should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I could have never thought you wouldn't even know a thing abou' Hogwarts! Didn't yeh ever wonder how yer parents learned it all?"

Now Rayne feeling less shy. "Learned all what?"

"ALL WHAT!" Hagrid leapt to his feet, and now he seemed to take up the whole cabin in his rage. "Now don't yeh tell me, don't you tell me, that' these two children know nothing about anything?!"

Rayne was a bit shocked. She had, after all, been going to school every day and she was the topper of their class.

"Now, please Mr. Hagrid, we do know some things," Rayne said stiffly. "Harry can, uh, do maths and stuff. And Mrs. Grey says if I work hard I can go to school in America, at Harvard University when I get older."

Hagrid waved his hand at her and said, "I'm sure yer an intelligent girl. Yer parents were. But I mean about our world. Your world. Yer parents' world."

When he mentioned her parents, Rayne forgot she was supposed to be insulted. She scooted closer to Hagrid's feet. Hagrid had known her parents. But Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had always said that her parents had no friends, and that was why the Dursley's had ended up with them. They had said that her parent's had left no will, and that was the reason Lily Potter's horrible sister and her nasty husband ended up with her one-year-old twins.

Harry looked confused. "What world?"

Hagrid seemed to get even angrier than before. He whirled on Uncle Vernon. "DURSLEY!" he shouted.

A very pale Uncle Vernon mumbled something along the lines of "asldfhus" as he shrunk against the wall.

Hagrid fixed Rayne and Harry with a completely bewildered stare. "But一But yeh must know一about yer mum and yer dad and yer story!" He ran his finger through his hair in agitation. "Yeh must know! They're famous! The two of yeh are famous!"

"What?" Rayne looked away from the Dursley's and focused back on Hagrid. "Our一our parents一they were famous?!"

Hagrid suddenly stopped and just stared at them. "Yeh really don' know what you are, do yeh?"

Uncle Vernon suddenly seemed to find some hidden courage. "Stop! You stop right there, sir! I absolutely forbid you to tell those two monsters anything else!"

Hagrid took a threatening step toward Uncle Vernon, but Rayne jumped up and grabbed hold of a corner of his coat. "Please, sir," she pleaded. "Please, just continue with whatever you were saying. You can't change them."

A small part of Rayne's mind told her that the giant would do almost anything to keep her and Harry safe, for some odd reason. The larger, and more reasonable part of her, said that she had gone a step too far. That Hagrid had put up with all her stupid questions, but by now he'd had it with her and any second he was going to bring his giant hand down on her face一

"Alright," Hagrid said gruffly, seemingly coming back to his senses. He threw a murderous glare at Uncle Vernon. "But I saw Dumbledore leave that letter, Dursley. An' he'll be sure to know yeh never told 'em the truth!"

Rayne blinked. Dumbledoor was a rather unfortunate name to be given. Then she looked back up at Hagrid and slipped down next to Harry.

So Hagrid hadn't hit her. Rayne was slightly surprised, though she was greatly relieved.

Harry suddenly spoke up. "But一Hagrid, what is it they've been keeping from us?"

"NO!" Uncle Vernon yelled in a blind panic. "YOU, SIR! I FORBID YOU TO SAY ANOTHER WORD!"

Aunt Petunia squeaked an agreement.

"Ah, yeh go an' boil yer head with the slugs, both of yeh," Hagrid looked at Rayne and Harry. "Rayne, Harry一yer wizards. Well, yer a witch, Rayne, but it's the same thing."

The hut had suddenly become unnervingly quiet, which made the storm outside louder.

"I'm a what?" Harry said after a few moments.

"A wizard, o' course," Hagrid said, nearly grinning. "An' the two o' yeh'll be some o' the best, once yeh've been given a bit o' training. With a family as powerful as yers, yeh'd have to be. An' I reckon it's time yeh read yer letters."

Rayne's fingers closed around the parchment addressed to Ms. P. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. The letter inside read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

∽

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Rayne's mouth suddenly felt very dry, like a desert had suddenly sprung up in her throat. Questions were storming around in her head, demanding answers. Slowly she stammered, "W一Where is this . . . Hogwarts? What is 'we await your owl' supposed to mean?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that's right," Hagrid clapped a large hand to his forehead. He pulled an owl一Rayne realized she had never actually seen a real-life owl before一out of another one of his pockets, along with a long feather quill and a roll of parchment. He started to scribble a note in that Rayne read upside down:

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Given Rayne and Harry their letters.

Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.

Hagrid

Hagrid handed the note to the owl and took it to the door, throwing it out into the storm.

Then he strong back and sat down as though this was as normal as tea time.

Rayne squinted at him. "Isn't that animal cruelty?" She felt a lot more at ease around Hagrid now, since all he'd do since arriving was care for her and Harry.

"Nah, it's used to it. Now, where was I?" Hagrid smiled, as an ashen-faced but angry Uncle Vernon moved into the light.

"They're not going," he said.

Rayne's heart sank and she stared at the ground in disappointment. She shouldn't have been so stupid; this whole thing was too good to be true anyway. It was too unordinary for the Dursley's to have thought up it as a cruel joke, so Rayne figured she must have been dreaming. Please let me wake up now, she thought. That's enough for today.

"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you try to stop them," Hagrid retorted.

"A what?" Harry asked, leaning forward.

Harry, Rayne inwardly chided, go ahead and stop on. It's time for me to wake up.

"A muggle," said Hagrid. "It's the word used for nonmagic folk like them. An' it's sad that you grew up with the biggest group o' Muggles to ever exist."

Rayne looked around and then back at the dirt in front of her. Why couldn't she wake up? She couldn't manipulate her dreams, but she could force herself awake.

The girl took a deep breath and pinched her arm, hard. When Rayne opened her eyes again, she was still sitting in the cabin and the spot was throbbing.

No one seemed to notice her obvious surprise as Rayne looked about with wide eyes.

"We swore we would stamp all that rubbish out of them when we took them in!" Uncle Vernon said, " Swore we'd put a stop to it! Blasted wizards indeed!"

Now that she knew she wasn't dreaming, Rayne glowered at him. "You mean you knew?" she snarled. "You knew that he's a wizard and I'm a damn witch and you didn't tell us?!"

"Knew!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. "Of course we knew! Do you think we're stupid? What else could you be, this my horrible sister being what she was? Oh, yes, she got a letter just like that and disappeared to that horrible school! She came home every vacation turning teacups into rats, with her pockets full of frogspawn. Our parents were so proud of her, it was Lily this and Lily that! I was the only one who saw her for what she was一a freak! And then she met that Potter and they left and got married and had the two of you一and knew you'd be that same, just as abnormal! And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" She hadn't paused to take a breath the whole time.

Rayne and Harry had both gone very pale. Rayne couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't do anything except stare uselessly.

Harry suddenly found his voice and said, "Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash!"

Hagrid was back on his feet again. "CAR CRASH!" he roared angrily. The Dursley's scuttled back into their corner, and this time, Ryane didn't stop Hagrid from advancing on them. "Lily an' James Potter died in a car crash? This is an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Persephone Potter not knowin' their own story when every single child in our world knows their names!"

"But why?" Harry asked urgently.

All the anger disappeared from Hagrid's face. He suddenly looked very on edge and anxious.

"I never thought it would be this bad," Hagrid said slowly. "When Dumbledore told me I might have trouble gettin' hold if you, how much you didn' know . . . Ah, I don' think I'm the right person ter tell yeh一but who else will一and the two of yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin' anything.

"Well, it's fer the best if yeh know as much as I can tell yeh一mind, I can't tell yeh most parts of it, seein' as it's a great myst'ry . . . It begins with a一a person named一mind me, I don't know how yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world be knowin' his name."

Hagrid stared into the fire for a moment, then continued his story. "Anyway, abou' fifteen years back, he started to look for followers. And he found them, too. Yeh couldn' trust no one. They were dark times, dark times indeed. The dark wizard was in control of ever'where 'cept Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore was the only person he was afraid of."

"But what is his name?" Harry asked.

Hagrid looked away uncomfortably. "Most people don' like ter say his name . . . we call him You-Know-Who or He Who Must Not Be Named. Everyone's still scared from the dark days."

"Oh," Rayne said. "That's okay. You could write it here in this sand." She patted a relatively dry spot next to her.

"I can't spell it," Hagrid grunted. "Since I can't not tell yeh, alright. His name is一was一Voldemort. I said it fer yeh once, now don' make me do it again.

"Anyway, yer mum and dad were some o' the most talented folk I ever met. They were Headboy an' girl at Hogwarts during' their time. They would have been great for You-Know-Who had they joined him, but everyone knew they were to close ter Dumbledore to go mixing with the bad side."

The fire crackled in the background as Hagrid looked between Rayne and Harry for a long moment before speaking again. "Then, ten years ago on Halloween night, he showed up at yer house. The both of yeh were only just a year old. And then he . . . he一"

Hagrid blew his nose very loudly into a large and very dirty spotted handkerchief. The sound similar to that of a foghorn, and Rayne winced a little.

"'M sorry," he said. "It's just so sad. Yer mum and dad were some o' the nicest people I knew . . . so sad . . . anyway," Rayne leaned forward a bit, she needed what would come next. Her parents were dead, and that was a fact, but the question was how? If they hadn't died in a car crash then how had they died?

"He killed 'em. You-Know-Who killed your parents. An' then一an' this is the real myst'ry of the whole thing一he tried to kill the two of you, too. But he couldn't do it. That's how yeh got those scars on yer foreheads. They aren' no ordinary cuts. These are the results of bein' touched by dark magic. A powerful, evil curse. It took care of yer whole house and yer parents一but it couldn't kill the two of yeh.

"No one lives after You-Know-Who decided he wanted them dead. He some o' the best witches an' wizards of the time一the McKinnons, the Bones. the Prewetts, and yer parents. An' he couldn't kill two babies."

Rayne's mind was reeling as Hagrid spoke. She was remembering painful things that she had kept locked in far corners in her mind. Flashes of green light, crashes and bangs, and now, for the first time, a cold, cruel laugh.

She grimaced and grabbed her head, Hagrid watching sadly.

"I took yeh from the ruins of the house meself, on Dumbledore's orders. I brought yeh here . . ."

"An old load of tosh," Uncle Vernon said loudly. Rayne flinched up and watched with Uncle Vernon with wide eyes; she had forgotten that the Dursley's were even there. Uncle Vernon seemed to have gained back some of his courage, because he stepped away from the wall and toward Rayne and Harry. "I accept that there was something wrong with the two of you a long time ago. Probably nothing a few more good beatings couldn't fix一any as for all this nonsense about your parents, well, they were weirdos, and there's no denying that fact一and I'd even go as far as to say the world is a better place without them一uh, mixing with this, this wizarding type so did it, brought them to a very sticky end indeed一"

Rayne grimaced with every word, fighting back tears, because this man was insulting her parents, her brave parents who were now dead because of her. All she could think was, god, someone please make him stop. Someone, please.

It's okay, Harry's voice said in her head. It's okay, I'm here.

Rayne was to busy trying wiping the wetness from her eyes and figure out how it was that she could hear Harry's voice in her head to notice Hagrid had jumped off the couch again.

Harry, she thought, screwing her eyes shut in concentration, Can you hear me?

Yeah, I can. I'm not deaf, Raya. Rayne frowned and opened her eyes. Harry was watching her expectantly.

Harry, watch my face. Are you sure you can hear me?

It took him a good ten seconds to realize her lips hadn't moved. Harry's eyes grew to the size of golfballs. He opened his mouth, but just then, a loud creaking noise from the couch rang around the cabin.

Harry gave Rayne a look that said 'later', and turned back to Hagrid, who was breathing heavily and nursing his cup of tea.

Harry asked Hagrid another question, but Rayne paid no attention. She was now realising she was rather tired; the terrible sleep at that dingy motel in Cokeworth, calming the stormy sea as they rowed to this stupid shake, and now not sleeping was finally taking its toll on her small body. As she drifted off, only one thought bounced around her mind: I'm a witch. We're finally getting away from these loonies.

⥺⭄⥺⭄

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I see you made it to the end of the first chapter. I hope it wasn't horrible. . . but if it was, comment and tell me how you think I should fix it! And if you liked it, stay tuned I guess. Chapter 2 will be out sometimes this week!
> 
> Also, I sometimes go back and add and edit things I don't like. I know it's not a very good habit, but work with me here.  
> -Adara


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